No old school video today. I have been trying to find a way to put "The Wire" in every conversation this blog and finally I have succeeded. (don't judge me) A conversation Tiha and I had yesterday about HBCU's led us to talking about our favorite college past time: drinking Spades. Then out of the blue we started talking about how life is a lot like a game of spades. The clip below is D'Angelo Barksdale explaining chess in terms of the drug game. I will attempt to break down the game of Spades in a similar but different fashion. Please enjoy the clip of my favorite show of all time:

Now that we have gotten "The Wire" formalities out the way, here goes:

*Partners Matter : The key to winning the game of Spades is having a compatible partner. Pay attention to the company you keep, it will definitely make or break you. Can't have partners that cut your books, not cute, that can get you cut in my hood. (I don't live in the hood, but suburban folks are gangsta too!)

*Bidding your hand: You have to know what you are holding (talent, knowledge, drive) and its worth. You have to evaluate in your head that some of those Kings are going to get in but you also need to know you can't always depend on those cut books, because your competition may flip the script and pull your trump.

*Just go 10, 8 is for suckas! : You have to take risks. Haven't you heard that scared money don't make money? That is the truth and right now I am going 7 and 8, knowing I am holding a monster of a hand. If my life were a Spades hand I would get ridiculed by the whole table for sandbagging and underbidding!

*Talk Some Shit: Not literally, you can't ridicule other folks all the time and get ahead, but you need to exude confidence. I have done successful "on the fly" presentations at work or have been part of last minute projects, and 90% of the battle was being confident, not letting the folks see me sweat.

*Renegging is Counterproductive: Integrity is key. You can scheme, cheat, steal, and lie, but when you get caught please hand me the paper and allow me to subtract your score. Have you ever seen the look of disgust on the partner of someone who reneges and the roasting that ensues. Life is the same way.

*The Game is Rigged: Sometimes you just have to realize the game is rigged, folks have been known to set decks and talk across the table. My advice to that is just keep playing, you will win eventually. Word.

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comment(s) thus far...:

Dont forget the Ace/Queen split: if you are in the right position or have the intuition to know your opponents (life and/or The Man)hand. You dont have to play your strongest first. Slip the queen in and when they mistakenly play their king thinking their partner has the highest card Bam! you hit them with your hidden strength (Ace) forever leaving them wondering just how strong you are...and slap it down hard!!!

you did it! spades, the wire and life. you were determined to build that bridge, and by golly, dontchaknow you made it happen. This kind of person (alise) can win a book with a 10 of diamonds and snatch up an Ace of clubs with a 4 of spades. yeah boi!

BUT since I learned how to play Spades recently (close your mouth, I went to white school!) I understood almost everything!!!! Yay, me.

I would add 2 things.

In addition to having the right partner, you also want to be playing with the right people. When I played, there was a lot sh*t talking being done, but in the end it was all in fun and everyone left happy.

Also, I would also say be true to yourself. I am not a sh*t talker, and every time I would try, it always sounded foreign coming out of my mouth, but went I knew I was playing well (and winning!!!) everyone could tell from the sh*t eating grin and all 32 of my teeth showing, lol. Anyway, I was doing my own brand of sh*t talking :-) without sounding like an idiot.